petition
//pəˈtɪʃ.ən//
Forms
- Plural
- petitions
- present (v1)
- petition
- past (v2)
- petitioned
- past participle (v3)
- petitioned
- present participle
- petitioning
- 3rd person singular
- petitions
Definitions
1.A formal written request made by an individual or a group of people to a sovereign or political authority, often containing many signatures, soliciting some grace, right, mercy, or the redress of some wrong or grievance.
- We're looking to get 10,000 people to sign the petition to have the bird colony given legal protection.
2.A formal written application made to a magistrate or court for an order or a suit for divorce.
3.A prayer or supplication, especially of which is formal or humble and made to a deity, a sovereign, or an authority.
1.To make a petition to (a sovereign or political authority).
- The villagers petitioned the council to demolish the dangerous building.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4985
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French peticiun
From stem of Latin petitio, petitionem (“a request, solicitation”)
From petere (“to require, seek, go forward”).